Phoenix 809 Part II Trivia Quiz

Answer: 899 Naval Air Squadron

Although 899 Naval Air Squadron was originally formed between 1942 and 1945, the major part of its history dates from its reformation in 1955 as a Sea Hawk squadron operating from HMS Eagle. Although disbanded two years later, it was reformed for a second time in 1961, this time operating the Sea Vixen.

Initially operating as a trials unit, in 1964 it was re-tasked as an operational squadron, and again embarked in HMS Eagle, serving as the ship's interceptor squadron until 1972, when the ship was decommissioned. Following Eagle's decommissioning, 899 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded once again, only to be reformed for a third time in 1980, when it was commissioned as the headquarters and training unit for the Royal Navy's new Sea Harrier aircraft, preparing aviators to be posted to one of the two front-line units. Chapter Two of "Harrier 809" describes how, in early April 1982, 899 Naval Air Squadron was used to reinforce the two front-line squadrons, which at the time usually deployed with just five aircraft each, bringing each up to a total of eight aircraft each.

Answer: Hermes

HMS Hermes was the final conventional aircraft carrier to be commissioned by the Royal Navy. Entering service in 1959, she was the smallest of the four major fleet carriers to operate during the 1960s. Although deemed surplus in the 1966 Defence Review, Hermes was eventually retained and, in a two year modification from 1971 to 1973, was converted from a conventional carrier into a so-called "commando carrier" capable of operating only helicopters.

In 1976, she was modified again to enable her to operate in the anti-submarine warfare role, while in 1980 she received a further modification (the installation of a "ski-jump" on her bow) to enable her to operate the Sea Harrier aircraft.

It was in this configuration that Hermes, at the time the largest warship in service in the Royal Navy, was selected as the flagship of the task group despatched to retake the Falkland Islands.

It was from Hermes that, as described in the prologue of "Harrier 809", Lt Simon Hargreaves of 800 Naval Air Squadron was scrambled to intercept an intruder that was identified as a Boeing 707 of the Argentine Air Force conducting surveillance on the task group.

The Argentine aircraft was escorted away from the task group unharmed, but subsequently Argentina was informed that any future attempts would see their aircraft fired upon without warning.

Answer: RNAS Yeovilton

Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton is the Royal Navy's primary airbase. Located near Yeovil in Somerset, it was established in 1939, and became home to a significant proportion of the Fleet Air Arm's flying squadrons early in the Second World War.

After the war, it was the primary land base for the Royal Navy's fighter squadrons, with units operating the Sea Venom, Sea Vixen and subsequently the Phantom stationed there. Following the end of conventional fixed-wing aviation, Yeovilton then became the main base of the Royal Navy's operation of the Sea Harrier, with 800, 801 and 899 Naval Air Squadrons all based there. Chapter 2 of "Harrier 809" goes into the initial deployment of both 800 and 801 Naval Air Squadrons, reinforced with both aircraft and aircrews from 899 Naval Air Squadron, and the realisation that more would be needed. Chapter 4 subsequently relates the process of forming a new Sea Harrier squadron, initially at Yeovilton, using as many spare aircraft and aviators as could be found - from its commissioning date on 7 April 1982, 809 Naval Air Squadron took just 21 days to be deployed.

Answer: ARA Veinticinco de Mayo

ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (25th of May) was the flagship of the Argentine Navy. Originally built as HMS Venerable for the Royal Navy, it was sold to the Netherlands in 1948, serving in the Royal Netherlands Navy as Hr.Ms Karel Doorman until 1968, when it was then sold to Argentina. By 1982, the ship has received a refit to enable her to operate the newly acquired Dassault Super Etendard strike fighter.

However, the Falklands conflict began before sufficient numbers of the new aircraft were delivered, and so the carrier was deployed with a squadron of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks. Chapter 26 of "Harrier 809" describes the efforts of Veinticinco de Mayo to launch a strike mission, using its Skyhawk squadron, against the two Royal Navy carrier, HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible, planned for 2 May 1982. Had this taken place, it would have been the first carrier on carrier battle since Midway in 1942.

However, despite Argentine search aircraft locating the British Task Group, the Argentine carrier was unable to undertake the attack due to a lack of wind to assist the launch of its aircraft. Following the sinking of the cruiser ARA General Belgrano on 2 May, the Argentine Navy subsequently retired to its bases and played no more significant part in the conflict.

Answer: Gambia

Following the squadron's hurried commissioning and work-up, 809 Naval Air Squadron needed to make its way from Yeovilton to join up with the Task Group. By the time of its departure on 30 April, the plan had been devised to fly the Sea Harriers to Ascension Island, where the squadron would await the arrival of the container ship SS Atlantic Conveyor, which would then ferry them to HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible in the South Atlantic. Chapter 23 of "Harrier 809" details the transit of the 809 Naval Air Squadron aircraft to Wideawake Airfield on Ascension.

As part of the plan, rather than flying non-stop, the squadron had an overnight stop at Banjul in the Gambia, which was located slightly more than half-way between the UK and Ascension. The squadron made the journey in two sections, with the second making its transit twenty-four hours after the first, and assembling on Ascension by 2 May.

Answer: Cunard

SS Atlantic Conveyor was a roll-on/roll-off container ship, one of a class of six built for the Atlantic Container Line, all of which were registered under shipping lines from different countries. Atlantic Conveyor and her sister Atlantic Causeway were both operated under the flag of the Cunard Line, making them, as British registered ships, eligible for requisitioning by the British government for war service. Chapter 11 of "Harrier 809" goes into the initial requisitioning of Atlantic Conveyor, which had been laid up out of service for nine months, and the plan for her conversion for military use.

The ship was to be used not just to ferry 809 Naval Air Squadron, but also RAF Harriers, Royal Navy and RAF helicopters, as well as a massive amount of stores for the planned landing to retake the Falkland Islands. Following its transit to the South Atlantic, the ship arrived and was able to offload the Sea Harriers and Harriers to the two aircraft carriers, before waiting to be allowed in to the islands themselves to offload its stores. On 25 May, thirty days after it had left the UK, Atlantic Conveyor was hit by two Exocet missiles launched from Argentine Navy Super Etendard aircraft, eventually sinking three days later.

Answer: HMS Coventry

HMS Coventry was the fourth of the first batch of six Type 42 destroyers to be commissioned into the Royal Navy. In March 1982, she was one of the ships assigned to that year's SPRINGTRAIN exercise in the Mediterranean, when she was ordered to form part of the initial task group assigned to sail for the South Atlantic, alongside her sisters HMS Sheffield and HMS Glasgow, with the three ships forming the primary air defence screen for the carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. On 4 May, Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile and abandoned, eventually sinking six days later. On 12 May, Glasgow, operating alongside the frigate HMS Brilliant, suffered severe damage following a series of air attacks and was forced to be withdrawn from the area, leaving Coventry as the only air defence ship attached to the task group until the arrival of reinforcements. Chapters 50-51 of "Harrier 809" describe the events of 25 May, during which Coventry, alongside the frigate HMS Broadsword, operating as a "missile trap" away from the task group, underwent multiple air attacks that led to the destroyer being bombed and capsizing, eventually sinking the following day.

Answer: Super Étendard

The Dassualt-Breguet Super Étendard was a carrier-borne strike aircraft developed from the original Étendard IV. Making its first flight in 1974, the Super Étendard entered service in the French Navy in 1978. The following year, Argentina agreed a deal to purchase 14 Super Étendards, following a US arms embargo that prevented spares being delivered for the Argentine Navy's A-4 Skyhawk fleet.

The first Super Étendards were delivered in mid-1981, allowing the formation of the 2da Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Caza y Ataque (2nd Naval Fighter/Attack Squadron).

At the same time, deliveries of the air-launched AM.39 Exocet missile also began. By early 1982, five Super Étendards and an identical number of Exocets had been delivered. During the Falklands War, the Super Étendard/Exocet combination was used in an effort to attack and knock-out one or both of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, without which any effort to retake the islands would have been impossible. On 4 May, a pair of Super Étendards, each armed with an Exocet, launched on a strike mission against the British task group, as related in Chapter 30 of "Harrier 809", which saw the destroyer HMS Sheffield hit, eventually sinking on 10 May. On 25 May, an identical mission was launched, related in Chapter 52, that saw two Exocets hit the container ship Atlantic Conveyor.

A final Exocet mission, using Argentina's only remaining missile, described in Chapter 58, was flown in an effort to attack the carriers on 30 May, which ended with the missile falling harmlessly into the sea.

Answer: HMS Illustrious

HMS Illustrious was the second of the three planned light aircraft carriers of the Invincible-class. Having been launched in March 1978, by the start of 1982 the ship was reaching the end of its fitting out period when hostilities in the South Atlantic began.

As a result, work was accelerated to try and get Illustrious available if required. Although the war ended before she could be used in action, in June 1982 she was sufficiently complete to sail directly from fitting out, undergoing sea trials and a hurried commissioning en route, to relieve her sister Invincible, which had remained in the area of the Falklands to provide air defence cover. Chapter 60 of "Harrier 809" recounts this period, with Illustrious's air group consisting of 809 Naval Air Squadron, which had reformed as a single unit in the UK having returned aboard HMS Hermes, alongside anti-submarine Sea King helicopters of 814 Naval Air Squadron, plus a pair of specially converted Sea Kings of 824 Naval Air Squadron to provide airborne early warning cover. Illustrious eventually returned to the UK in December 1982, with 809 Naval Air Squadron disbanded on 17 December.

Answer: Phantom

The retention of 809 Naval Air Squadron aboard HMS Illustrious in the South Atlantic was a stop-gap measure until a more long-term solution could be provided. Following the end of the conflict, the runway at Stanley airport was extended and new arresting gear installed, to enable conventional land-based fighters to operate from the airfield. Once this work was completed, a detachment of McDonnell Douglas Phantoms, at the time the RAF's primary interceptor, was despatched via Ascension to the Falklands to take over the responsibility for local air defence from the Royal Navy. Chapter 60 of "Harrier 809" details the arrival of the first Phantom on 17 October which, after landing in Stanley, was refuelled and armed with eight air-to-air missiles and a gun pod and immediately sent on a so-called "presence run" to the west of the islands, within the range of Argentina's search radar capability. On 21 October, HMS Illustrious left the area, and disembarked her aircraft two months later upon returning to the UK.